Survey: 50 percent want to legalize file sharing through monthly fee

50 percent of the Internet's most active users would pay a monthly flat fee to legally download content from file sharing networks, according to a new study by the German Institute for Strategy Development (IFSE). These results are based on a survey amongst almost seven million so called "power users," according to a heise.de report.

IFSE defines power users as users that contribute the majority of content to Twitter and the blogosphere and in general use the Internet more than just occasionally. Most of these users regularly download music and movies from file sharing networks, and more than 70 percent of them object to entertainment industry lawsuits against file sharers based on evidence from ISPs.

However, IFSE's researchers also noted that the amount of files traded by this group of users has been stagnant. One reason for this behavior: Much of the content is actually available on demand, so users feel less of a need to download it to their own computers.